run [max]

7. Murder House

⚢✌︎︎「✦」
      .*ೃ༄    
☼𝙧𝙪𝙣 ☹︎
｡･:*:･ﾟఌ
࿐ ˚‧

3rd person
☾.*ೃ༄

Y/N COULDN'T STOP THINKING about the letters. Obviously, she wanted to read hers, but Lucas's was the only one on her mind. Previously she had never thought of anything between the two, but when Will filled her in on what she missed while she was trapped under the mall she could only focus on the details of their interactions. The thought of Max unbothered by her disappearance and the worry Will showed when describing how close they got only made her envy and distaste grow. It wasn't Max that she didn't trust it was Lucas. She didn't hate him and was sure he didn't hate her. But the paranoia has been building. Every time she thought about how close they could be getting while she was away, it got worse and worse.

Y/N thought of an idea, that would either soothe her or make her feel worse. Even though it would be a huge invasion of privacy, it would keep her sanity. Thinking back to yesterday, she recalled where Lucas left his letter. The group was a mess when they arrived in the Wheeler's basement, but Y/N hoped that Lucas kept all of his things together. She gently turned Max's hand, which was intertwined with Y/N's fingers. The watch on her wrist read '4:44 am', so she assumed that everyone would be asleep at this time. The room was silent, except for the quiet snores and Kate Bush's voice playing softly. She let out a small cough that ended up being louder than she expected.  Max stirred next on the couch but thankfully stayed asleep. She waited a minute before getting up, taking in the strange sleeping positions her friends chose.

Y/N turned to Lucas who was leaning against the television. Conveniently, his jacket was tossed to the floor by his feet. She stepped over Dustin and reached for the jacket pocket. She felt around and finally landed on the thin envelope. She pulled it out and flipped it over, finding his name in blue ink. Glad that the process was somewhat easy, she exited the area where everyone was sleeping and sat down on the stairs. Y/N carefully peeled open the envelope, making sure she would be able to seal it later. She turned it upside down and let the letter glide into her hands. She checked behind her one last time and unfolded the page. She skimmed the letter, not focusing on each word for too long. Though it was short, it got the message along perfectly. It consisted of apologies for her potentially negative attitude towards him and missing out on his basketball games. After rereading the letter she was sure where Lucas and Max stood. The previous envy drained from her, satisfied that his 'crush' wasn't reciprocated.

Still, it was very tempting to rip it up, burn it inside of a fireplace and throw the remains in the trash. But because these actions would be unexplainable and Y/N decided against it. Reluctantly she folded it back up and slipped it inside the envelope. Touching the tip of her finger to her tongue, she sealed the envelope back and stood up. She made her way back to Lucas's jacket and placed the letter into the pocket, careful to leave it in the same position she found it in.  Y/N glanced back at Max who was sleeping peacefully, unbothered by the song blasting in her ears (which Y/N had stayed up to replay every time it ended.) She made up her mind, she would wait to read her letter.

Y/N made her way back to her spot on the floor next to the couch. She was grateful that Max stayed asleep throughout the whole process. Y/N could only imagine Max's reaction to her reading the letter. With 8 months of anxiety finally gone, she was finally able to sleep and what seemed like 48 hours. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, forgetting her agreement to stay up and watch Max.

༄

"Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin?" The walkie hidden in the room crackled as a gritted voice came through. "Earth to Dustin." Nancy sat up, scanning the room for the source of the noise. She spotted the walkie near the tv and moved to grab it, jumping over the sleeping bodies. She picked it up and extended the antenna.